Rhodolph h



(No Model.)

R. H.- FRANKLIN. WATCH MAKER'S TWEEZERS.

Patented Sept. 30, 1890.

INVENTB WITNES 114$ diammy Unrrnn STATES i n'rniv'r 01 nc .RHODOLPH n. FRANKLIN, or nnoonniin, NEW ronu, iissrcnon ro cnnnLns. o. communes,- or sans PLACE.

.WATGH-MAKERS TWE EZERSf SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 437,847, dated September 30, 1880. I k Application filed March 27, 1839. Serial No. 305,022, (No model.)

- To all whom it may concern:

' Be it; known that I, RHODOLPH H..FRANK- LIN, a citizen of thellnited States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State inafter described and claimed, which consist,

generally, of a pair of jaws that spring open on being forced out of one end of the inclosing case by pressure on a push-stud at the other end and close on and grip objects to be handled by them by the action of a retracting spring within the case, all as follows, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in whicha Figure l is a side elevation of my improved tweezers with plain jaws for general purposes. Fig. 2 is a sectionalelevation of the same in a plane at right angles to the view of Fig. 1, with dotted lines showing the jaws thrust out and opened. Figs. 3 and i are, side views showing the jaws specially adapted for handling jewels.

or represents the tubular case; Z), the jaws;

c, the tapered spring-shanks of the jaws, which open them as the said tapered portions shift outward along the mouth of the tube, said jaws being closed by the case when shifted the other ways (1 is the push-stud attached to the upper end of the shanks of the jaws,

joined and secured together in one staii'j a suitable distance above the spring shanks; and f is the coiled spring in the upper part of the case, resting onthe shoulder g and bearing on the lower end of the push-stud with the force required to thrust the jaws back into the case to close and grip the objects to be handled by shifting the inclines c inward of themouth of the tube.

As thus far described, the device is substantially the same as the well-known Birch. universal watch-key, which is the subject of several patents, and I make no claim herein to any of these features, my invention being in the peculiarities of construction described farther on, whichl have worked out toenable the principle of the watch-key to be utilized for tweezers. I r v In a watch-key of the kind in question the jaws are grooved in the gripping-faces to the dimensions of the winding-posts of the smallest size, and so that they require to open but slightly'or not at all for such posts, and the range of opening for larger posts is only the difference in the size of posts of difterent watches, which at most is very little. Another feature of the key is that the jaws surround and inclose the posts in their grip,

The slight rangeeh-opening of the jaws,

for inclosing the posts of the watch,'enable practicable keys to be produced with a small .6: together with the wide dimensions necessary case, which is unobj ectionable as to size, the

width of thematerial furnishing the strength for the grip with less thickness than would otherwise be required, and the size of the tube being smaller in proportion as the range of opening is short; but the jaws occupy nearly the whole area of the bore of the tube in order to have the required width for inclosing the post, and in order to be able to open they have to taper in the plane of their opening as well as at the back, which, although not materially objectionable in the short-range jaws of watch-keys, both in the opening and the lengthwise movement, would be fatal in the case of jaws necessarily having the lunch longer range, which tweezer-jaws must have in both ways, for they would not close accurately on each other and would fail to hold objects such as the instrument is :isigned to handle,owing to the slack side fit of the jaws in the tube.

While it is true that tweezers might be made on the plan of the watch-key that would have the proper range of opening for tweezers,

than the watch-key jaws must be for their purposes and wider in theother direction than the case, and also slotting the casesome distance back from the end, as shown at h, for laterally guiding and controlling the jaws sliding in said slot, and which when closed project through said slots flush with or a lit tle beyond the exterior surface of the'tube, as at k, and also making the inclines i within the case from the outer angles at the ends of slots h backward, together with the coacting inclines of-shanks c of the jaws, beginning at the outer edges of the jaws, so that the'longest, range of inclines attainable in the case is'secured, and thus the jaws will open as wide asdesired in a case much smaller than it would have to be in the key arrangement,

- and'the jaws have much greater breadth and strength in the direction in which the grip is effected, whichjs important'because of the much longer jaws required in the tweezers than in the key;

The jaws may be variously formed for various special purposes, as the curved and pronged form represented in Figs. 2 adapted for handling diamonds.

The push-stud d is screwed onto the upper end of the jaw-staff, and is fitted to screw and 3,

more or less thereon to alter the tension of lation to the socket or groove that when said position when required.

push-stud is pressed into the case to the limit of its range the stop will drop into the socket or groove and hold the jaws in the extended The groove is preferred to thesoeket, said groove being made only partly around the push-stud with the ends gradually vanishing in the surface, so that the push-stud can be quickly released from the stop by turning the push-stud so as to shift thegrooveiaway from the stop and leave it on the plain surface of the push-stud but the socket may be used, the stop being in such case suitably contrived for being forced out of the socket by the finger-nail or other approved means. There is a shoulder Z to serve i connection with collarm on the'stafi j to limi the extent to which the jaws will be thrust out.

The shoulders g and Z are in this example produced by spinning the grooves e in the exterior of the tube, but they may be provided in any other approved way.

I claim as my invention- 1. In tweezers consisting, essentially, of the tubular case, inclosed jaws, push-stud, and retracting spring arranged for the opening and closing of the jaws by shifting them outward and inward ot' the case, said case having the slots h for the jaws cut through the shell and extended upward along the same a suitable distance from the end, and the jaws fitted in said slots and at the back extending through the slots flush with the outer surface of the shell or thereabout when closed, said jaws having the usual taper spring-shanks, push-piece, and retracting spring, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the spring-stop on the case, with the push-stud, jaws, and retracting spring, said stud having a short groove extending partly around it for the stop and vanishingat the ends in the surface of the push-stud, substantially as described.

In testimonywhereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' RHODOLPJI Il. FRANKLIN.

Witnesses:

W. J. MORGAN, W. B. EARLL. 

